Tesla unveiled its crossover yesterday, the Model X. It has some very impressive numbers as well as some interesting design features. Built on an extended Model S frame, they say it will be offered with 2 battery options with the range of the larger pack at ~280 miles. Seats 7, has 2 trunks, the front is cavernous as there is no motor in the usual spot. 0-60 in 4.4 seconds, the base motor will be 300hp with a second 150hp as an option. No torque figures have been released, although that should be easily computed. All wheel drive can be had with that second motor. Recharge time of 4 hours. Elon Musk says the turning radius is the same as a Mini Cooper. Price will range from ~$57k-90k.

More space than a minivan. Quicker than a Porsche 911 Carerra. The functionality of a minivan and the performance of a sports car. What could go wrong?

Well, some might say the practicality of the one feature most people will grasp, the swing-up doors.

How that will play out in snow country remains to be seen.

Another issue is price. Tesla opined that they would bring a car for the masses. $60+K does not exactly fit that category.

Quoting Mir (Reply 3):If I were going to spend that much money on a car of that type (i.e. one that can hold a lot of stuff), I'd want to use it on a road trip or two.

At least in Denmark, it makes good sense to buy an electric vehicle since it is almost tax free, and there is free parking in the city. Normal tax on a car is 180% of its original value and then you also have to pay for the car itself of course. . So go figure

Quoting Mir (Reply 6):But then you couldn't show it off to your buddies.

Are you implying I'm such a hill-billy that I don't have friends within a 300 mile radius of me?

Quoting Mir (Reply 6):Electric cars are going to be great someday. But they need to get past the time-to-charge barrier first - until they do that, I can't see them being anything other than novelty pieces.

Quoting Mir (Reply 6):Electric cars are going to be great someday. But they need to get past the time-to-charge barrier first - until they do that, I can't see them being anything other than novelty pieces.

Agree, do like the looks and I do hope that car will be reality. For us it could work just fine since we have 2 cars and 99% of the time only one is being used

Quoting Mir (Reply 3):If I were going to spend that much money on a car of that type (i.e. one that can hold a lot of stuff), I'd want to use it on a road trip or two.

You're point below is valid, no doubt, but charging stations are getting more and more convenient in places like Seattle or even across WA state in general. That said, very few vehicle trips are made over that distance. The last time I took a trip with a 1 way distance over 200 miles was last July. From Seattle I could drive to Vancouver, BC or Portland with that range. It basically has a full tank of gas range, and how many people go on a trip frequently enough to burn an entire tank of gas?

Quoting Mir (Reply 6):
Electric cars are going to be great someday. But they need to get past the time-to-charge barrier first - until they do that, I can't see them being anything other than novelty pieces.

At $57-90K/vehicle I'd guess people buying this would have another car that looks just as nice. Off topic I know, but do all new electric cars have to have noise generators on them now?

Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 9):It basically has a full tank of gas range, and how many people go on a trip frequently enough to burn an entire tank of gas?

Agreed. I think it's another case of people wanting certain functionality because they might use it someday. 4-wheel-drive is similar...many people refuse to live without it because they might need it 2 or 3 times per year. To them, being prepared for those two or three potential trips is worth dealing with inferior fuel economy for the rest of the year, and more expensive maintenance over the lifetime of the vehicle.

In the case of electric vehicles like this one, some people will use similar logic and will opt for a less efficient vehicle that is otherwise identical. They might want to go on 2 or 3 longer trips every year, so they'll sacrifice fuel economy for the other 99% of their driving to accommodate those trips.

Quoting Mir (Reply 6):Electric cars are going to be great someday. But they need to get past the time-to-charge barrier first - until they do that, I can't see them being anything other than novelty pieces.

The most realistic solution I've seen is where they standardized batteries and made them easily switchable. They had it setup so a robot did the job and it would take one or two minutes so essentially like filling up today.

I think this is a beautiful solution but can't see OEMs be able to agree on a standard so think it is doomed.

The other option is to accept that most days we drive well below a full charge and for those days we need more distance rent a different car.

I bet it weighs like a tank. Those batteries ain't light. Sure it may be fast in a straight but I bet it's a hog on the curves. Top Gear clearly showed how the roadster's heavy weight ruined the once epic handling the original platform had, which is borrowed from the Lotus Elise...

A little too much is being made of the mileage. Let's say I need to drive SJ-LA. 5+ hours, just over 300 miles. I do it 3-4 times a year but rarely will I do it all at one time. There is generally always a food break. 1 hour will charge approximately 62 more miles. More than enough to get to LA and pushing the limits of what I want to drive in a day anyway.

That said, those mileage numbers Tesla gives are at 55 mph. I don't know what relevance that has, I could not drive I-5 at 55. Nor do they talk about weight in the car for that mileage. Realistically, my trip to LA would need a longer break in the plan.

Quoting Fly2HMO (Reply 15):That sounds ridiculously optimistic. That can't possibly be from a fully discharged state. No way. Many laptops take longer to charge than that.

What's your source? I searched over 10 articles on the car already and checked the official website and can't find a single mention about charge times.

Quoting Fly2HMO (Reply 15):I bet it weighs like a tank. Those batteries ain't light. Sure it may be fast in a straight but I bet it's a hog on the curves. Top Gear clearly showed how the roadster's heavy weight ruined the once epic handling the original platform had, which is borrowed from the Lotus Elise...

It may not be as heavy as you think, remember there is no ICE and no transmission. I thought I saw something about 4,200 lbs.
The day I believe Top Gear's entertainment as a true representation of a car is the day I need to check in to a mental hospital. They have their agenda.

Quoting mham001 (Thread starter): they say it will be offered with 2 battery options with the range of the larger pack at ~280 miles.

Big fail that would get me to the next town over from where I live but I'd then have to wait around for it too recharge before I come home again, until an electric vehicle can give me a 500 mile range it's going to be next to useless.

Quoting mham001 (Reply 2):4 hours to fully recharge. I suppose that fails it, because everybody drives 281 miles a day.

Some live a long way from anywhere, so yup I can easily drive 280 miles in a day if I need to. I also take my family on car holidays and have been known to tow things from time to time, what would the range be towing a 3500kg boat, bugger all I'm sure.

If the range they are advertising is correct at around 450 km on a full charge then I don't see why you are arguing that they are selling a vehicle that can't get outside of town. The majority of vehicle trips are within town anyway.

Quoting KiwiRob (Reply 18):Some live a long way from anywhere, so yup I can easily drive 280 miles in a day if I need to. I also take my family on car holidays and have been known to tow things from time to time, what would the range be towing a 3500kg boat, bugger all I'm sure.

Then someone with these driving habits obviously aren't who they're marketing this vehicle to. I could go buy a F-350 with a tow package, but realistically I'm only going to use it a few times a year. The market they're trying to market too is someone who would buy a Porsche Cayenne not a F-350.

Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 19):The market they're trying to market too is someone who would buy a Porsche Cayenne not a F-350.

So people who buy Cayennes (hopefully me in the next couple of years) don't go on long drives or tow. Our next family vehicle (according to my wife) will be one of the following an X5/Cayenne/Q7/M Class/Touareg/Discovery or RR Sport, it needs to be able to tow a 2000kg boat, be able to get from where I live to Oslo (580km) in a day, it's then got to be able to get me, the family, and maybe the boat from Oslo to the Mediterranean coast in two days, my demands aren't high, they aren't much different form many others, I can't see the Model X getting close to being able to do what I want done. The Model X is a great big city car, it's not for someone who wants a Cayenne or similar.

The very same people who use SUV/CUV 4x4s as grocery haulers with the intent of maybe someday driving to Tahoe. Thinking about it, this is the size in which there is to be had the highest percentage of fuel savings. Exactly the size vehicle we need to wean off oil first.

Quoting ALTF4 (Reply 4):On the other hand, if I had the money to spend on a car of that type, I'd just rent another car when I have to drive more than 300 miles in a day.

If you're gonna spend that kind of money on a car, one had better not have to rent a car for a roadtrip or weekend getaway. Sorry, but its one thing to spend $15-$20K on a small, fuel effecient car to get around town on a day to day basis but to spend 3 - 5 times that on a car that can't even get you to the cottage and back without a 4 hour re-charging break is just plain useless. If I'm gonna put that kind of coin down for a vehicle, I intend to drive it everywhere and not spend even more money at Budget and wait to see what I end up with.

Quoting mham001 (Reply 21):The very same people who use SUV/CUV 4x4s as grocery haulers with the intent of maybe someday driving to Tahoe.

But will they buy this thing knowing that they can't drive to Tahoe, regardless of whether they do or not?

Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 19):If the range they are advertising is correct at around 450 km on a full charge then I don't see why you are arguing that they are selling a vehicle that can't get outside of town.

I just drove 450Km the other day on an 'errand' I had to run.
The city I drove to was 200Km away, plus the running around in the city, and boom, 450Km.
It was under 20 deg F that day so I had the heater on full blast the whole way, which is not a problem in a gas engine but would be a huge drain on a battery if I'd had to use an electric heater.

At the end of the day, I would have been stuck somewhere on the highway 50 klicks from home.

I'm not saying you can't get out of town, but you certainly can't go far away from it, and you'd better plan ahead if you do.

I'm not against electric cars, especially for driving around town, but let's face the facts: they're still far from practical when outside of it.
There might be a day when you can do a full recharge in minutes at any station across the country and drive over 300 miles on a charge with full climate control, but until then gas will reign king for better or worse.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit posting...

25 canoecarrier
: I'm not debating that this vehicle is going to be everything for everyone, but if you have enough money to spend on a $100K car with room for 7 and 3

26 ACDC8
: So here's a question ... if you have a car that can go from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds, you're obviously burning a lot more fuel than you would if you would

27 BMI727
: Not even a compact one. You could buy a luxury SUV and still have tons of cash left for gas. ...because every Denny's has an outlet in the parking lo

28 KiwiRob
: This vehicle would probably be a success if it had a range extending fuel cell, the pure electric vehicle is only useful as a city runabout, which thi

29 canoecarrier
: Yes you are, because you said this: Every argument I've seen so far in this thread goes completely against the real world driving habits of people. Y

30 swissy
: Like I said already.... it would work in our case because we can flip the car if one of us has to drive excessively... no problem to install a 240v o

31 KiwiRob
: Why is it a hypothetical need, it's not, a lot of the people I work with jump into there cars on a friday afternoon and drive anywhere up to 400km to

32 swissy
: I would say it is the ignorance of the majority of people not willing to accept Model X would work in most cases but hey it runs on electric (agree,

33 KiwiRob
: That's it problem it's expensive and can't do what the vehicles it competes against can. Very very expensive in Norway, well over 1 million NOK for t

34 swissy
: Holly cr... what if you received a GL as a "gift" lets say from Canada payed by an anonymous person named KiwiRob cheerios,

35 cmf
: Who is forcing it on anyone? Don't want it, don't buy it. That simple. But are the people who want it allowed to buy it without being told it can't d

36 prebennorholm
: A while ago a test of electric cars was made here in Denmark. A few cars were put in the hands of "ordinary people" who commuted some 25km back and fo